Quiz Europe/Colonization/Slavery/Pirates Flashcards
During what years were millions of Africans captured and shipped to America and sold as slaves?
-Which ocean were they transported across?
the 1500s-1800s
-The Atlantic Ocean
Why did slave trade begin?
shortages of labor in Americas led to the beginning of Atlantic slave trade; European planters needed workers on sugar & tobacco plantations
What indigenous group did planters first use as slaves?
Native Americans
Why were slaves a better option instead of workers?
Because it was very expensive to support workers
African Slaves…Where are they from? What could have happened to them if they did not end up working on plantations?
They’re from the coast of West Africa; Some were exchanged for goods, and others were kidnapped by raids or traders
Triangular Trade… What is it???
-1st leg?
-2nd leg?
-3rd leg?
It was a trade route that involved the exchange of goods and enslaved people between Europe, Africa, and the Americas
-ships took European goods to Africa to be exchanged for slaves
-Middle Passage; Africans were brought to the Americans to be sold
-American products; products carried to Europe
If Slave traders didn’t use triangular trade, what would they do instead?
sail directly to Africa
Stages of becoming a slave…
-stage 1?
-stage 2?
-stage 3?
Stage 1 - Ships left Europe with goods (guns, textiles, rum) and crews with guns went ashore to capture slaves. Slaves were kept waiting in prisons, and those not fit for the journey were left on shore to die!
Stage 2 - Ships sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas (8-10 weeks). Some slaves rebelled (jumping ship, hunger strike, etc). A loss of a slaves life was loss of $ for the Slave Traders!!
Stage 3 - Africans would be sold at auctions in the Americas. Tar was used on the slaves to hide any sores and cuts (they were seen as rebellious). Slaves were branded and inspected, families separated, and slaves were given a European name.
How were slaves obtained? (PART OF STAGE 1)
-Kidnapping, trading, people given by chiefs as tributes (chiefs would send people in debt, criminals, or prisoners of war).
What’s a goree stick?
slave stick; kept slaves from jumping off the boats and surviving (it would drown them).
“Loose Packing”?
a condition of a slave ship; the captains would take on board fewer slaves in hope to reduce sickness and death
“Tight packing”?
a condition of a slave ship; captains would carry as many slaves as possible, as they believed that many blacks would die on the voyage anyways
How long were bids taken on slaves?
for as long as an inch of a candle burned
What kind of slave was the most expensive? The least expensive?
American born slaves who had skills; African born slaves who had to be “broken in”
What determined the cost of slaves?
Age, sex, and skills
Where are each of these slaves going…?
-Spanish
-Portuguese
-English
-Caribbean sugar plantations
-Brazil
-West Indies but also to colonies in North America
What country dominated the slave trade by the end of the 1600s?
England
Where did most slaves work??
plantations!!
Where did slaves that were skilled craft workers work?
In the Americas-specifically carpenters, metalworkers, and coopers
What kind of jobs were slave women given?
domestic duties; like cooking, cleaning, etc.
(IMPORTANT!!) Where will the vast majority of slaves be working?
sugar plantations
What were the living conditions of the slaves?
-they would have to meet their own basic needs at the end of each workday (cooking, mending, tending the sick)
-the conditions were harsh
-Physical, degrading punishment inflicted for minor offences (ex: whips)
What was a constant fear of slave owners?
That their slaves would rebel; angry slaves who could no longer take harsh treatment they enforced on plantations
Slave laws in the Americas considered enslaved Africans to be…?
property; slaves would have no right/freedom & slave owners would control most conditions under which they lived (normally brutal treatment/abuse)
How would slaves cope with inhumane conditions?
-by trying to keep cultural conditions alive
-religion for strength & hope
-others would fight back by slowing work, destroying equipment, and revolting
-some would also flee and establish communities of runaways
Effects of Slave Trade
400 years of Atlantic slave trade devastated West African societies
Effect: human cost
-Estimates of 15-20 million Africans shipped to Americas against their will
-Millions more sent to Europe, Asia, Middle East
-Human cost enormous (deaths in transit, deprived of freedom, descendents doomed to lives of servitude).
Effect: Africa
-Effects profound in Africa
-Slave raiders captured strongest young future leaders of societies
-Divided Africans from one another
-Forced labor of millions did not enrich Africa
Effect: Economics
-Forced labor of Africans did enrich other parts of the world
-Built economics of many American colonies
-Their knowledge of agriculture contributed to growth of rice industry in southern English colonies
(IMPORTANT) Piracy grows as…
global sea trade expands
Piracy vs Privateers
Piracy = individual/crew profit, no larger strategic goals, often wanted by several governments
Privateers = imperial commissions, engaged in military campaigns (hired pirates for $)
Ching Shih
-Born Shi Yang; known as Ching shi Xianggu
-Inherited Red Flag Fleet from her husband 1800 ships and 80000 men (largest fleet ever)
-Established a gambling house and brothel (still run today) at the end of her life
-She was from Guangdong Province China; born in humble beginnings (1775)
-Originally a prostitute among floating brothels
-1801-1810 was when she was a Chinese pirate leader in the South China sea
-Married pirate Captain Zheng Yi- got 50% of his earnings and fleet if she married him, which she did
-Famous for…Size of fleet leading most successful and largest, lot of authority-like a government, grew her fleet 9 fold, defeated the Qing dynasty Navy, ran a tight ship on the treatment of women (executed rapists, cheaters) & “Floating government”
-died in 1844; peaceful death
Black Caesar
-African American born in West Africa mid 1660s to Haitian slaves owned by a wealthy French planter named Arnaut (born into slavery)
-Captured on a slave ship, escaped, and took over the ship he was captured on with the help of a foreign sailor
-Eventually joined blackbeard’s crew; Queen Anne’s Revenge
-Operated in the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s-1730s)
-Pirating around Florida and the Keys (easy to hide bc islands)
-Believed that he was an African war chief
-Evaded being captured many times
-Eventually captured by Virginia colonial authorities in December 1718 & tried for piracy in Virginia
-hung in 1718
Anne Bonny
-Irish pirate born 1698 died 1782 in South Carolina
-Daughter of Irish lawyer william cormac and his maid
-Pirate in the caribbean in 1718-1720 (bahamas and Jamaica) during the Golden Age of piracy
-First husband was James Bonny and didn’t want to divorce her, so she met John “Calico Jack” Rackham in a tavern and joined his crew after falling in love with him. His crew was called the “Revenge” and she disguised herself as as man
-Bonny and Rackham got famous in 1720 and collaborated with female Pirate Mary Read.
-Pop culture pirate icon- had a book written on her and Mary Read. The book was called Pirate Queens.
-1720 Bonny was captured by Captain Jonathan and sentenced to death in Jamaica by trial, but her sentence postponed because of pregnancy
-Released and unclear what really happened to her, but we think she was hung for piracy
Black Beard
-Born in Bristol, England
-Sailor a privateer ship during Queen Anne’s war
-Place in command of a sloop and started piracy with Captain Benjamin Hornigold
-Captured a French slave ship called la Concorde and renamed it Queen Anne’s Revenge
-Operated around west indies and east coast of US colonies
-Lived 1680-1718 but was only actively a pirate for two years: 1716-1718
-Famous for… unfound buried treasure, his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge, his short career, big black bear, put fuses and smoke on himself to scare others and his enemies (theatrical element)
-Died in Battle in November 22, 1718
-Attacked by Maynard as docked and fatally wounded
-His head was used as a trophy by the rival ship and planted on a pole on the mainland as a warning to other pirates.
Yermak Timofeyevich
-from Chusovaya River, Russia, a small town in mid-western Russia
-His activities along the Volga River…Cossacks, like Yermak, engaged in raiding and plundering for survival and to prove independence; his ways caught attention of stroganov family, who wanted him to help protect their lands; partnership led to his famous expedition into Siberia = expanded Russian territory
-He was a river pirate on the Volga or Don River
-Was a Volga Cossack (free man)
-During the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century
-Fled North in 1581 in order to escape punishment for piracy
-a hero in Russian folklore and myths
-Drowned in the Irtysh River in 1884 or 1885
